Two more Christmas cards

Hello everyone. I thought I would pop in quickly with two more Christmas cards that I created for next year's stack.

First up, I have this CAS card that was inspired by this month's Rerun challenge over at the Winnie & Walter blog, featuring the Comfort + Joy stamp set. I was also greatly inspired by Kelly's card, so I decided to pair the as yet unused jingle bells stamps from the set with two of my new Catherine Pooler inks (Juniper mist and Sauna, from the new Spa collection), since they are great for generational stamping (among other things).
After stamping, I trimmed down my panel and mounted it onto a blue card (probably by SSS). I stamped one of the sentiments from the same set in Juniper mist onto a scrap of cardstock, cut it to size and then lightly pressed all edges into the very juicy Juniper ink pad. Since these ink pads have a soft foam cushion, a gentle press is enough to ink up the edges. I mounted my sentiment strip using foam tape and my card was done.

I'm linking up this card at:

W&W Rerun No. 26 - Comfort + Joy

Tuesday Morning Sketches - #424 Anything goes

(It's been ages since I've played along, 

but with the current AG theme and a 

mega prize, I had no excuse for not playing)

Penny Black and More - CAS

My second card is also pretty CAS, but more on the cute side. I used some left-overs from my left-overs box, including this previously printed snowman, which is part of the Winter Wryn and Snowman digi by Tiddly Inks. I used Paint to erase part of Wryn that was overlapping and then drew in a few lines to make the snowman look complete again. Obviously, he has hidden one arm behind his back, wanting us all to guess what he is hiding there LOL. I trust that this alteration is not a violation of Tiddly Ink's Angel policy.

I adhered my white panel and the PP circle, stamped the sentiment (Love peace & joy, SSS - Suzy Plantamura) and popped up my snowman, that I coloured using Promarkers and fussy cut. To finish off, I added a little shimmer to the snowman's hat and added Glossy accents to the eyes and buttons as well as on the heart and the snowflakes.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers - #424 Mega Christmas challenge - Add a sentiment

I love Promarkers- #349 Anything goes

Tiddly Inks - # 208 Be Merry

Merry Little Christmas

Those of you who are following my blog, won't be surprised to see that I have already started on my Christmas cards for next year LOL. Creating Christmas cards at this time of year, when the temperatures are relatively low, the heating is on and the Christmas tree is lit, makes much more sense than creating them in the heat of a Greek summer, right?

Anyway, this card started out as a CAS design, with a die cut panel (SSS stitched rectangles) and only a sentiment and a tree (SSS) that I coloured using my new Tombow markers and a little water. And then I decided to add this older but still cute reindeer (Sissix and Hero Arts), that I stamped in Royal Treatment ink (Catherine Pooler Spa collection) and coloured with Copics before die cutting. I used distress inks (Antique linen, Tumbled glass, Dusty concord) to blend some ink onto my background and added a few snowflakes from the Hero Arts set using generational stamping. I adhered my panel to a white card base and popped up the reindeer using foam tape.

I'm playing at:

ABNH - Winter holiday

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

CWS - #21 Reindeer

HLS Christmas - Anything goes

New and old

The current Uniko Christmas challenge seemed like the perfect moment to break in two of the Uniko stamp sets that I bought earlier this year. 

For my first card, I used the Jingle Bells set (which is retired I think). I used my Catherine Pooler inks to stamp the images (Eucalyptus for the greenery and It's a girl, Rockin' Red & Peppermint Scrub for the poinsettia) and paired it with an old sentiment stamp (Handy Christmas Greetings, C.C. Designs).

I die cut my panel using a stitched rectangle die (SSS) and adhered this to my red card base, after drawing some limes using a white Pilot pen. To finish off, I went over the stamped images with a SN glitter brush and added Glossy Accents to the flower heart.

I'm entering my card at:

Uniko - #44 Christmas'

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas goes

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas goes

Stamping Sensations - Winter trees and flowers

For my second card, I had a play with one of the stamps from Uniko's Background Builders: Round in Circles. I though it would be fun to try and mimick the look of Uniko's wonky background stripes. The sentiment banner is from another retired Uniko set (Label Love: Christmas). I used Catherine Pooler inks (Rocking' Red and Grass Skirt) to do my stamping.

I used a stitched rectangle die (SSS) to die cut my panel and fussy cut the sentiment banner. To pull the design together, I adhered two strips of red cardstock behind my popped up sentiment banner. I'm entering this card into the Uniko challenge as well (if it's allowed to have 2 cards in one post).

More sprinkles...

After trimming down the stamped panel for my previous card, I was left with a strip that was too much fun to toss out, so I matted it onto another scrap of pink cardstock and created another cupcake card. Just as on my previous card, I stamped my cupcake onto a scrap of cardstock, fussy cut it out and foam-mounted it onto my card. All stamps are from the same set (Sprinkles Turnabout, Concord & 9th).

Love how I managed to create 2 cards from one stamped panel with the same colours but a different look and feel. I do love how this CAS version turned out.

I'm playing at:

Where Creativity Meets C9 - #16 Anything goes

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

SOS - #334 Gah!! PINK!! (A tribute to Leslie Hanna)

Pixie's Snippets Playground - I used cut-offs 

and a scrap to create my strip and cupcake 

plus I'm bringing cupcakes and sprinkles to the party!

Cupcakes and sprinkles

I've been playing with some new goodies I bought during the Black Friday sales and I'm really happy that most of my new stuff arrived here in Greece before Christmas. I'm hoping to spend lots of time in my craftroom in the next week, since I've taken a 2-week break from work.

I had been eyeing the Concord & 9th turnabout stamps for quite a while, so I was really happy to snag their Sprinkles Turnabout set. I used my MISTI and (Catherine Pooler: It's a girl, It's a boy, All that jazz; Studio Calico: Flamingo) to stamp the pattern 4 times onto a square panel of Neenah solar white cardstock. After trimming down my panel, I die cut a window from my panel using a tag die by Lil' Inker Design. I stamped the sentiment and cupcake onto a differen panel, adhered the sentiment panel behind the aperture and fussy cut my cupcake. I matted my panel onto some matching Core'dinations cardstock and adhered everything onto my white card base. The cupcake was foam-mounted and covered in Glossy Accents.

I'm playing at:

Where Creativity Meets C9 - #16 Anything goes

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Tuesday Throwndown - #372 Anything goes

Lovely watercolouring

A few weeks ago, I treated myself to a set of Tombow dual brush markers, and this week I decided to have a play with them. I also decided it was high time to use this beautiful floral stamp by Concord & 9th (Lovely), that I had ordered for my sister but was allowed to play with before sending it over to her.

Using my MISTI, I repeatedly inked up small sections of my stamp with a Tombow marker, stamped and then watercoloured my flowers and leaves with a water brush, picking up more of each colour from an acrylic block onto which I had scribbled with my markers. After I had finished my colouring and the panel was dry, I die cut it using a stitched rectangle (SSS), stamped the sentiments from the same set in Versafine black ink and adhered my panel to a Neenah desert storm card base. 

I love how this turned out. Every now and then, I have to go and look at my card, amazed that I created this. Hope you enjoy it too!

I'm playing at:

CAS Watercolour - Anything goes

Where Creativity Meets C9 - #16 Anything goes

HLS WC - Anything goes

Find your happy every day

As promised, I'm back with another card and this time it's not a Christmas card lol.

I blended Distress Oxide inks through a die cut circle mask and then added the flower silhouettes through a stencil (Sheena Douglas) with the mask still in place. I removed the mask and then used another stencil and embossing paste (black stencil paste by Pentart) to create my large flower silhouette. I finished things off by adding some water splatters to my background and stamping the sentiment (SSS). I used a piece of acetate on top of my panel so that I could bend my stamp to follow the curve of my circle before picking up the stamp with the lid of my MISTI. I adhered my panel to a Neenah desert storm card base.

I'm playing at:

CAS Mix Up - I used stamping + masking, stencil, 

ink blending, water splatters and embossing paste

Cards in Envy - Framed with circles

HLS Mixed Media - Anything goes

Joy from me to you - Merry Christmas

The weather outside is cold (to Cretan standards anyway) and wet. Yesterday and today, we finally got some rain after many dry months. But although we badly need this rain, I'm happy to be able to stay inside where it's nice and warm.

We are hoping to celebrate a quiet Christmas tomorrow, which means I have more time left for crafting. Yay!

I will also be posting a few cards for a couple of challenges. Here's the first one.

I blended warm grey ink (Altenew) through a stencil (Scrolled Background, MFT) on my card base, using more ink in the middle of the stencil and using a lighter hand to fade the colour outwards to create the look of a snowflake. I added a frame that I had die cut using an MFT die (Stitched rectangle scallop edge). The sentiment (Merry Everything, MFT) was heat embossed in gold (Papermania) and cut using a die. A few gold sequins finished things off.

I'm playing at:

CAS Mix Up - I used stamping + heat embossing, 

die cutting, blending through a stencil and bling

CAS-ual Fridays - CFC189 Dreaming of a white Christmas

HLS Christmas - Anything goes (optional: stencil)

STAMPlorations CAS - Anything CAS goes (optional: gold)

EH Tags of Christmas

Hello there. Today, I have two tags to share that I created for Ellen Hutson's annual Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.

My first tag was inspired by Julie Ebersole's tag on day 3, featuring a white element on a light kraft background. I stamped the Ornamental Background (Winterhave Stamp of Approval collection by Catherine Pooler Designs) in white pigment ink onto a scrap of Neenah desert storm cardstock and then die cut it using the largest tag die of theTag Buddies set (CAS-ual Fridays). The sentiment (Good Stuff stamp set, Winterhave SOA collection) was stamped in Altenew ink onto Neenah cardstock and then fussy cut. The deer was die cut using a Marianne Design die and inked up using Altenew ink and added to a circle I had lying on my table. I blended a little Antique linen DI around the edge. At this point, I realised I needed to add a more feminine touch, which I did by pulling out some ribbons and pearl string from my stash. I also added a touch of shimmer to the deer using my Spectrum Noir sparkle pen.

I'm linking up my tag at:

 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist

TAGplorations Deceember - All about Christmas

My second tag was inspired by Sharon Harnist's tag on day 10 of the Tags of Christmas event.

I started with a DOI rainbow-blended scrap that I was left with after creating this tag last month and die cut it using a Studio Calico label die.  The baubles (from a magazine stamp set) were heat embossed in liquid platinum (Ranger) onto a scrap of cardstock and fussy cut. The Poppystamps die (Small Pine branch) was a Rudolph challenge win (thanks again Maureen!). I die cut it from a scrap of watercolour cardstock and coloured it using Tombow markers. Just like the baubles, the sentiment (Crafter's Companion) was heat embossed using liquid platinum embossing powder. The ribbon and metallic threads are from my stash.

I'm linking up this tag at:

 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist

HLS Mixed Media - Anything goes

CLBH bold cups

Here's one last card for the current Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

I had these stacked cups (My Cup to Yours, Verve) printed and ready to do some Copic colouring. This time I went for more traditional and bold colours.

After colouring, I simply die cut my panel using a Neat & Tangled die and foam-mounted it to my red cardbase (Lipstick red, SSS).

I'm also playing at:

Muse: ChristmasVisions - #90 Any Christmas or winter-themed card

ATSM - Make your mark

SSS Wednesday - Stitch it

Uniko - #44 Christmas

ABC Christmas - Y for Yummy

CLBH pastel cups

I have another card to share for the current Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

While I was playing with some digital images in Word, I thought it would be fun to create a tree of cups (My Cup to Yours, Verve), using the sentiment as the trunk.

I used some of my lighter (new) Copic markers to do some simple colouring.

I'm also playing at:

Muse: ChristmasVisions - #90 Any Christmas or winter-themed card

CAS on Friday - #123 Christmas

ATSM - Make your mark

SSS Wednesday - Stitch it

Uniko - #44 Christmas

CLBH and foiling

Hello there! Just popping in with a card for the current Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

I used digital images from Verve (snowflake from My Cup to Yours set) and Tlc Creations (cups from the Perfect Winter Blend set). I arranged a few snowflakes in different sizes on a quarter of my page in MS Word and then added two cups in a different area on my page before printing it onto Neenah cardstock on my laser printer. I used Stamperia silver foil and a laminator to foil my images. I had never done this before, so it was kind of wonderful to see that it had actually worked. Woot!

I sponged Iced Spruce distress ink onto my background panel before running it through my Cuttlebug with a stitched rectangle die (SSS). The ink went on very smoothly but in a cloudy sort of way and I decided I liked this artsy look, so I went with it. I think the cardstock may have reacted a little differently to the ink blending after having gone through a hot laminator.
 I did a little colouring on my cups using Spectrum Noir coloured pencils and then fussy cut them out. After adhering my background panel using tape runner, I popped up my cups using foam tape and then added a few tiny red stars for a pop of colour.

I'm also playing at:

ATSM - #272 Make your mark

SSS Wednesday - Stitch it

Muse: ChristmasVisions - #90 Any Christmas or winter-themed card

Happiest of Holidays

I am back with yet another Christmas card, even though I have created enough Christmas cards to send out this year. What can I say? I just love creating Christmas cards.

Today's card was inspired by the colours of Heather's November colour challenge at the Winnie and Walter blog (see the image at the end of this post) and the layout of Lydia's card for last month's W&W Rerun challenge.

I used the image stamps from In bloom: Hollie's Festive Florals (W&W), while the sentiment is from Happiest of Holidays (W&W). The inks are by Altenew (Warm grays: Morning frost, Evening gray, Lava rock; Glacier caves: Arctic, Caribbean sky, Sapphire).

I used my MISTI to stamp my sentiment in my lightest grey so that I could stamp my images around it, thinking I might want to heat emboss the sentiment later on. I changed my mind after I had stamped all of my images and restamped the sentiment in Lava Rock instead. After I had rounded the corners of my panel and adhered it to my card base, I decided I wanted to add some splatters. To do so, I smooshed my Sapphire ink cube onto an acrylic block and used a wet paint brush to create my splatters. I do love how this turned out, even if it's not my usual style (or maybe because of that lol).

Places I'm playing:

W&W Colour combo with Heather H. 

Muse: ChristmasVisions - #90 Any Christmas or winter-themed card

Stamping Sensations - Winter trees and flowers

HLS Christmas - Anything goes (optional: stencil)

Red, green and kraft Christmas

Today, I'm back with a quick and easy card that was inspired by one of the colour combos for the November Christmas colour challenge at the Seven Hills Crafts blog (linky is closing tonight, at 10 pm UK time).

I pulled out one of my Winnie and Walter sets (Comfort + Joy) and some Distress Oxide inks and stamped my images on a scrap of kraft cardstock (Neenah Desert storm) that I had die cut using a stitched rectangle die (Simon Says Stamp). After stamping my sentiment (Sentimental: Winter by W&W), I adhered my panel to a scrap of red cardstock before mounting it to my kraft card base. As a finishing touch, I added a touch of glossy accents on all of my berries.

Places I'm playing:

Seven Hills Crafts - Christmas colour combo

(I went with the classic combo in the middle)

Muse: ChristmasVisions - #90 Any Christmas or winter-themed card

Uniko - #44 Christmas

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Cards in Envy - It's only paper

Love and snow at Christmas

Here's another card I created using the new SOA Winterhaven collection. Just like a few of my previous cards, this one was inspired by a card from an old PaperCrafts magazine. This card (cannot find the exact magazine and card(maker) right now), had 4 hearts in alternating colours (red/green) in a row. When I saw these hearts, it made me think of the heart die in the Good Stuff die set from the SOA Winterhaven collection.

I created my own 'patterned paper' by taking my green and red inks (Grass Skirt and Rockin' Red by Catherine Pooler) direct to paper and heat embossing the snow/star cluster from the Here we come a-caroling set repeatedly after the ink was dry and then die cut the heart several times. I used an eyelet tool to punch a hole in each of my hearts and a piercing tool to pierce holes in my card, so that I could thread my baker's twine through. To finish off, I stamped the sentiment ('Tis the Season) in black and rounded the bottom corners using my corner chomper. And since I was able to die cut several more hearts from my inked up panel, I created a second card using the same design.

Challenges:

Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards - C for CAS

Muse: ChristmasVisions - #90 Any Christmas or winter-themed card

Uniko - #44 Christmas

AAA Cards - #104 Christmas

CAS on Friday - #122 Christmas